Still Here
by DobbyRocksSocks
Summary: Even when you're all grown up, there are some times when you just need your dad. Warning - mentions of miscarriage.
**Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise.**

 **Written for;**

 **Valentine Making Station - Picnic Basket - Write about Ron.**

 **Months of the Year - August - Write about a Father/Son Relationship. Extra Prompts - Happy, Ice Cream, Park, Family, Thought.**

 **The Friends Challenge - Write about a miscarriage.**

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 **Still Here**

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The day was a nice one. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the grass and flowers around him swayed happily in the breeze. Ron ignored it all as he stared unseeing into the distance. He was completely alone, and he was feeling the silence around him as though it was a cloak, draped heavily on his shoulders. The day was completely at odds to the feelings whirling inside him.

He was feeling... well honestly, he didn't know how he was feeling. Lost? Angry? Desolate? Broken? Probably all of those and more. Everything had changed with just a few words from a man in a white overcoat. Ron hadn't known how to react, other than to wrap his long arms around his wife while she sobbed into his red auror robe. Ron hadn't shed a tear.

An almost silent crack behind him alerted him to the presence of another, but he didn't even take out his wand to defend himself. There were few people who knew about this place, and so he was almost certainly safe with whoever had arrived.

The newcomer cleared their throat quietly as they took a seat beside him. Ron looked to his left, smiling wanly at his father, who was holding out an ice cream with a small smile on his face.

Ron took the ice cream, bet he didn't taste it. He held it in front of him, staring at it as though it held all the answers to his problems.

"How's Hermione?" Arthur asked.

"As well as can be expected, I suppose. The healer said she can come home tomorrow. They want to keep her in for observation."

"How are _you_?"

Ron started at the question. How _was_ he? Nobody had asked him that, so he hadn't had to think about it. He settled for shrugging, as he watched a tear of ice cream roll slowly down the side of the cone.

Arthur sat beside him in silence for a few moments. "You know, your mother had a miscarriage between the twins and you. For weeks everybody asked how she was doing, but nobody really stopped to think that I'd lost a child too. I understand how you're feeling, son."

Ron scoffed. "I'm glad you do, because I have no idea."

Arthur nodded. "I remember that too. You're allowed to grieve for your child, Ron."

"Hermione needs me to be strong. I can't afford to fall apart."

"If you're being strong for Hermione, who is being strong for you?"

Waving his wand to vanish the ice cream in his hands, Ron sighed. "I don't know what to do, dad," he admitted. "Hermione is... she's upset, but when I try and hold her, she gets angry. She doesn't want me at the hospital, but when I left like she demanded, she screamed that I don't care about her. I just... it's like every decision I make seems right, but it's wrong. And then... I just finished the nursery, you know? I go home, and the room is painted and the cot is up, and..."

As Ron lost his breath, his father's strong arms wrapped around him, pulling him close.

"It's alright, son, let it out," he murmured as sobs shook the body of his youngest boy. "Everything will be okay, Ron."

"I need someone to tell me that it's all just a bad dream," Ron cried. "Its too much, its all too much."

Arthur rocked Ron slightly, rubbing a hand up and down his back comfortingly. They sat like that for long moments until Ron took a shuddering breath and pulled away, feeling drained but also as though the weight had been lifted a little from his shoulders.

"What can I do, dad? How can I make her happy again?"

Arthur sighed. "As much as I'm sure you don't want to hear it, it's going to take time, son. You need to be patient, show her that you're there for her, but try not to crowd her. She'll come to you when she's ready, and she will need your support as much as you need hers."

"I just want to look after her."

"You can't do that from here, can you?" Arthur asked, gesturing around them at the park Ron had claimed as his own personal safe haven.

"I thought I would do better leaving her alone for a while, but now I... was I a coward? Did I run away?"

"I think you reacted as anyone would," Arthur replied gently. "I also think that, now she's had a little time alone, Hermione will welcome you back with open arms. You'll need each other if you're going to heal from this."

Ron nodded and stood up.

"Dad?"

Arthur raised his eyebrows in question.

"Thank you."

"Any time, son. I didn't stop being your dad when you turned into an adult, you know?"

Ron smiled. "I know. But still, it's nice to know you're still here when I need you."

With that, Ron turned on the spot, apparating back to Saint Mungo's, where his wife was waiting for him.

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 **Gringotts Prompt(s)**

Once Upon A Time - It's like every decision I make seems right but it's wrong.


End file.
